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William Farrar III

Virginia planter and politician (born c.1632)

Correspondence, annotated notebooks and portrait silhouettes prepared for research
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Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionSep 7, 2026
Entity authorityQ130393782 ↗
Source-derived summary

William Farrar III (c.1658 - 1721) was a Virginia planter and politician who represented Henrico County in the House of Burgesses during the 1700-1702 term.

Early life

The eldest son of William Farrar Jr. and his wife Mary, was under legal age, when his father died in 1676, and his uncle John appears to have operated plantations which his father had bequeathed to his sons, particularly on Farrar's Island in Henrico County, which he bequeathed to this man and his brothers when he died in 1685. Their grandfather, also William Farrar had emigrated from England and became a lawyer, planter and member of the Virginia Governor's Council, but died in 1637 when both his sons were boys, as would his son (this man's father). His parents also had two other sons (Thomas and John) and daughter (Cicely III) who survived infancy.

Career

William Farrar owned 700 acres in Henrico County in 1704, probably including Farrar's Island, but in that year his brother Thomas owned 1444 acres in the same county, probably including 550 acres on Farrar's Island that he sold to Thomas Randolph of Tuckahoe in 1627, about the time that this man's eldest son and heir, William Farrar IV sold 686 acres to the same man, and moved to what in that year became Goochland County.

Meanwhile, in 1685 this man had followed his father's, uncle's and grandfather's public careers by becoming a justice of the peace for Henrico County, and in 1698 he became captain of the militia, as well as served as county sheriff in 1690-92 and 1712–1713.

This William Farrar won election to the House of Burgesses in 1700, and served alongside Thomas Cocke, but two years later voters elected two different burgesses, William Randolph and Francis Epps, both likewise of the First Families of Virginia.

Personal life, death and legacy

This William Farrar married twice. His first wife was Priscilla Baugh, daughter of William Baugh Jr.

Editorial summary

Begin with the source’s own compact description: “William Farrar III” is virginia planter and politician (born c.1632). The dossier treats that line as a proposition to test through William, Farrar and Virginia, not as a finished interpretation.

Editorial reviewA useful biographical orientation record, particularly for establishing names, roles and a first chronology. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—1658, 1721, 1700, 1702—that can be checked directly. The linked authority record independently contributes the date 1659-01-01. For this dossier, William, Farrar and Virginia is the immediate research focus.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

The phrase “virginia planter and politician (born c.1632)” supplies a clear boundary for inquiry. It also exposes the unanswered questions: who defined that boundary, when it became stable and which sources sit outside it.

Evidence profile

Biographical claims are most persuasive when dates, appointments and relationships can be traced to records created close to the events described. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 7, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q130393782. None of the 1 selected statements returned an explicit reference. The first chronological checks are 1658, 1721, 1700 and 1702.

Critical limits

Later biographies can compress uncertainty and repeat inherited reputations, so apparently settled claims may still require comparison. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

How to read it

Read biographical claims against dates, named institutions and the cited references. Distinguish a subject’s later reputation from evidence produced during their lifetime.

Best used for
  • Establishing names and roles
  • Building a first chronology
  • Locating cited institutions
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Personal papers, civil or court records, institutional files and the scholarship cited by the source.

Three-step research path

  1. Establish the record: confirm the title “William Farrar III”, its source revision and the description used here.
  2. Expand the search: follow William Farrar III primary sources, William Farrar III archive and William research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
  3. Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.

Questions for further research

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  3. How has the subject’s reputation changed across later accounts?
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Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from “William Farrar III” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.